Local militant native activist Shawn Brant was arrested and charged for leading a blockade of the same area earlier in the month.

Protesters at the site Wednesday said theirs had nothing to do with Brant's arrest, but to bring further attention to missing women, demanding the federal government open a formal inquiry.

“We are here because our sisters, our moms, our cousins and our friends are being stolen from us at alarming rates and there is no closure given to those families,” said one of the leaders, a woman who went by the name Karahkwinetha. “This is continuing and we are not seeing an end to it at this time."

She was surrounded by local women and a group of female students enrolled in First Nations studies at Ryerson University in Toronto.